At 7am on Sunday 27th October I woke up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to enjoy a day at EGX 2024 at the Excel London. I grabbed my lanyard and the bag I packed the night before, and took a train from my countryside home to the big city. I spent the journey going over the list of games I wanted to see/play, while watching the number of cosplayers grow as we got closer to our destination.
Arriving just after doors opened at 10am, there was already a great buzz about the place. Even on the final day of this 3-day event thousands of people converged on the Excel London to enjoy a day of fun and fandom. During my 6 or so hours at EGX 2024 I got to play some fantastic games, discover some new and exciting Indies, and chat with some very cool people. What follows are my thoughts on the event itself, and my impressions of some of the games I got to play, in alphabetical order.
The Event
I have to say that the EGX 2024 is a far cry of what EGX was only a decade ago. Partnering up with MCM Comic Con this year to share the space at the Excel London, it was very apparent how much smaller the gaming portion was at the Excel London. Nearly all of EGX’s booth and exhibits were confined to one quarter of the space, and a great deal of the big name developers and publishers no longer have a presence. What emphasised it even more was that Bandai Namco, really the only large entity at EGX 2024, had their booths to play Little Nightmares III, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO and more were in the middle of the MCM Comic Con area, the other side of the centre to the rest of the gaming focused exhibits.
Though EGX has shrunk over the years it still has plenty to offer, and covers a gamut of gaming adjacent interests. Walking through the convention I saw booths specialising in PC parts and assembly, a careers fair with several universities present, a retro gaming area, panels, Q and As, and a live Tekken 8 tournament. What EGX 2024 had wouldn’t have been enough to fill out a 3 day weekend, but with tickets allowing access to MCM Comic Con as well, it was certainly worth the price of admission.
Now, on to the games!
A Home Below
Funnily enough, A Home Below was the last game I played at EGX 2024, and one of the two games that were immediately “my jam”. Developed by Hermit House, a 3 person team based in the UK. With just 4 months of development, it is amazing to see how much this game has already taken shape.
A Home Below is a narrative driven exploration game where you play as a hermit crab navigating the rooms of a fully submerged family home. Starting with a whisky shot glass as your shell, you skitter about the place looking for other “shells” to unlock new abilities and explore more of the underwater domicile.
By interacting with items you’ll learn more about the family who used to live here and their lives, as well as themes of Environmentalism, the relationship between humanity and nature, and wildlife’s need to adapt in order to survive. A small, heartfelt game that I cannot wait to see more of in the future.
Release Date: TBA.
Blue Prince
Blue Prince has already had some buzz about it, garnering awards at both Gamescom and The Tribeca Festival this year. Developed by Dogubomb, a solo developer who has been working on the game for 8 years, and one of several games at EGX 2024 being published by Raw Fury.
A first person puzzle game with roguelike elements, you explore the 45 shifting rooms of Mt. Holly manor in order to find the 46th room. Starting from the entrance hall, you choose which room is on the other side of the door you are going through, slotting them together like puzzle pieces. If you have no available doors to place new rooms, or run out of steps from exploring, your day and run ends.
As you sleep, the manor resets itself and you have a fresh chance to explore it anew. Keep an eye out for items like keys and a magnifying glass, use your journal to track the manor’s layout and clues, and use money to buy supplies to increase your steps. This roguelike nature allows for players to tackle certain puzzles or chase certain leads, gathering more knowledge for future runs, hopefully culminating in disovering the 46th room. Blue Prince is a delightful and devilish head scratcher, and will have you reaching for a pad and pen in no time!
Release Date: 2025 TBA.
Dome Keeper
Dome Keeper was the first game I sat down with at EGX 2024. Released back in September 2022 with Raw Fury, the game has seen excellent support from its creators, the married duo dev team Bippinbits.
You play as the eponymous dome keeper, managing your time between mining for resources below the planets surface and defending your dome covered home from alien assailants. The resources you collect and bring back up to the dome can then be used in several neat skill trees to upgrade things from the dome’s defences and sustainability, to your keeper’s suit and equipment.
Not normally the sort of game I would choose to play, I quickly found myself getting into a meditative rhythm with the gameplay cycle. With a plethora of adjustable campaign settings, Dome Keeper makes itself a very approachable game. Now that they have Dome Keeper where they want it to be, the devs have stated their focus is now on multiplayer and console release, but no dates or platforms have yet been announced.
Console Release Date: TBA.
Knights in Tight Spaces
Knights in Tight Spaces is the next game from Ground Shatter and a follow up to their previous title Fights in Tight Spaces. It is a tactical deckbuilding game with a medieval coat of paint, focused on stylish close-quarters combat.
With over 300 cards covering all different types of moves and abilities, classes and items, as well as an upgrade system, Knights in Tight Spaces promises a lot of choice and replayability. With a bold, punchy art style and smooth animations, each confrontation you face is another opportunity to pull off some perfectly executed takedowns, as long as you pay attention to your surroundings.
After running through the tutorial I got a great idea of what to expect, but also a feeling that I was barely scratching the surface. For those who like to be tactical but also enjoy bone-crunching combat, Knights in Tight Spaces is the one to watch.
Release Date: TBA.
Lego Horizon Adventures
After chatting with other EGX 2024 attendees in a queue for 30 minutes, I got a chance to play Lego Horizon Adventures! I enjoyed a 10 minute solo demo (the game has co-op) of the game’s tutorial, learning the basics of this new type of LEGO game. Developed by Studio Gobo, Lego Horizon Adventures is a retelling of Horizon Zero Dawn, the first title in Guerilla Games’ Horizon series and the beginning of protagonist Aloy’s story.
Fans of previous LEGO games will be familiar with a lot of the trappings the style of these game has fostered, but a lot has changed as well. The world is LEGO, but the gameplay is Horizon. Gone is the destructible nature of the world, exploding with studs to collect and objects to build. Gameplay is much more aligned with Aloy’s abilities; using her focus to scan her surroundings and her bow and arrows to take down mecha-dinos and solve environmental puzzles.
Lego Horizon Adventures shares the same colourful, rich world of its more realistic counterparts, and adds a levity to the characters and narrative that is very welcome. Aloy is a bundle of charm and energy, with LEGO’s own slapstick humour getting a couple of chuckles out of me. I had high hopes before getting hands-on experience with the game, but now I’m sure that Lego Horizon Adventures will hit the bullseye.
Release Date: 14th November 2024.
Little Nightmares III
As a huge fan of both Little Nightmares I and II, I was pumped to get some playtime for the next entry in the series, Little Nightmares III. While Tarsier Studios developed the first two Little Nightmares games, Supermassive Games is heading up 3’s development and it is being published by the IP holder Bandai Namco.
Starring a new duo of playable characters, Low and Alone, it is also the first game in the series to feature full co-op. Little Nightmares III looks and plays just as the previous entries did, continuing with tis unique take on unsettling, atmospheric horror. I had a good 20 minutes to play through the whole demo, navigating a whole new, sand-strewn setting and tried my best not to get snatched by the kaiju sized doll that stalked the two children.
Along with the option to play in co-op, Little Nightmares III has tools feature more often. Part way through the demo the duo picked up a pair of feathery umbrellas that allowed them to ride gusts of air or float down from a high place to safety. I’m interested to see how additions like these are used throughout the game, and the demo did an excellent job of solidifying my excitement for Little Nightmares III.
Check out the new trailer for Little Nightmares III that just dropped today!
Release Date: 2025 TBA.
Sonokuni
A psychedelic, high octane, top-down Bio-Punk brawler infused with J-Hip Hop and Japanese mythos. Did you get all that? Don’t worry, it took a moment for me to take it all in, but once I did I was so in to Sonokuni! Developed by the Don Yasa Crew, a J-Hip Hop group who took to game development during the Covid lockdowns.
Taking on the role of Takeru, you fight through hordes of strange creatures in bizarre environments to protect her village, the titular Sonokuni. Gameplay is fast and frenetic, involving a slash that parries the same coloured projectiles, a shield that blocks other matching coloured projectiles, and a time dilation mechanic. Using all these in unison requires focus, and with only one hit before death, it can get pretty insane on screen! Thankfully there is a near instantaneous restart just before the room you died in, allowing for quick retries and invites experimentation.
Sonokuni is the first title to be published in the West by Kakehashi Games in partnership with Raw Fury. I was worried that I would struggle with Sonokuni, but by the end of my demo time I had made it through the first level and beaten the demo’s boss! I’ll definitely be picking up Sonokuni when it releases, and even if I do end up sucking at it, at least it has an incredible soundtrack to enjoy!
Release Date: 2025 TBA.
Soul Pianist
Like some of the previous games I’ve covered in this article, Soul Pianist is another example of why I love Indie games. Another solo developed game, it tells the story of a pianist looking for peace after losing their family in a horrible accident. A melancholic, serene yet surreal experience that stayed with me long after I’d finished playing the demo.
Soul Pianist is a blend of driving game and rhythm game, a surprising combination that takes a while to get used to, but once I did it became quite meditative. In a third person perspective you drive a VW bus around a dreamlike setting, towing a grand piano behind you. Your goal is to collect the ghostly apparitions of each family member by catching them in your headlights. You power your headlights by pressing the corresponding button when it reaches the centre of the circle at the bottom of the screen. The better your timing and the quicker you collect the spirits makes the figure on the left fill faster.
It’s a lot to take in, especially for a game with such a calm and slow-paced nature. Soul Pianist is like nothing I have ever played before. It’s unique nature, from visuals to gameplay, make it stand out in the busy furore of the gaming market, even if it is a small solo endeavour. Games like Soul Pianist are proof that if ever you are looking for creativity and new experiences in gaming, look to the Indies.
Release Date: TBA.
Yooka Re-Playlee
Last but by no means least is Yooka-Re-Playlee, a remaster of the 2017 3D mascot platformer from Playtonic Games. As a backer of the original release, I was ecstatic to hear it was getting a remaster (even took my kickstarter reward T-shirt to get it signed, but sadly the devs where not present at EGX 2024). A classic 3D collect-athon platformer like the days of yore, Yooka-Re-Playlee is a brighter, better version of the original.
With a fresh lick of paint, and a slew of improvements such as fast travel points within levels, Yooka-Re-Playlee is set to be another entry into the excellent platformer club.
The team at Playtonic Games is one of astounding pedigree, with their flair for colour and creativity present in gaming since the 80’s. With its vibrant worlds and characters, fun and at times challenging gameplay, and quintessential English wit, this mascot platforming duo deserves to be counted among the greats.
Release Date: TBA.
There you have it! A lot of great games to look forward to, with so many more than I covered in this article. Some are just round the corner, while others may still be further off, but you can be certain there are great gaming experiences coming soon!
As for EGX, I worry that with the lack of bigger companies present it will continue to dwindle until it is eventually given up on. Even if there was to be a growing number of Indie games present, the lack of big names means that people will overlook the event and it will fade into history, much like E3 has done. What is the solution? I’m not sure, but I will say this: the gaming community is poorer for not having these amazing events, bringing fans together with the games they love and the inspiring creators who make them.
